A South Carolina woman has sadly passed away after a freak accident at a Garden City beach. Tammy Perreault, 63, was impaled in the chest by an umbrella that had blown loose in the wind just after 12:40 p.m. and did not survive her injuries.
- Witnesses immediately called for help. Off-duty medical professionals who were also at the beach ran to help the woman and emergency services arrived soon after to transport Perreault to Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital. She died roughly an hour later.
- Authorities have offered their condolences to Perreault’s family and friends. Losing a loved one is hard enough, but having it happen in such a random and terrible way is almost worse. “This is a terrible loss, and we know our community is hurting,” Thomas Bell, a spokesperson for Horry County Emergency Management, told WMBF. “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the victim as they navigate through this difficult time.”
- Perreault was a beloved member of the local community. Many tributes poured in following her death, with Scotty’s Surfside Bar penning its own message on Facebook. “Today with heavy hearts we mourn the loss of a dear friend and kind-hearted local, Tammy Perreault,” they wrote. “Some things we will never begin to understand but what we do know is no one has a bad thing to say about this woman. To be as sweet as her day in and day out should be a goal for all.”
- Thankfully, such horrific deaths aren’t common. However, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that roughly 3,000 people are injured by beach umbrellas every year.
South Carolina woman dies after being impaled by beach umbrella https://t.co/kideuRxaAZ pic.twitter.com/KzDIjE2fk7
— New York Post (@nypost) August 12, 2022
The woman was at a beach in Garden City when a powerful gust sent the umbrella flying, the sharp end of the pole striking her in the chest, the coroner said.https://t.co/d6M1LKpATl
— KTLA (@KTLA) August 12, 2022
